Mil Spec

[ClinchFX]

I have a question about the term Mil Spec or milspec, often used by electronics manufacturers.  Rather than further derail R.G.'s soldering thread (my apologies to R.G.), I decided to start a new thread.

First some background:

As I said in another post, I began my electronics training with an Australian Government organization in the late 1960s.  The course was specifically in telecommunication and radio systems.  Most of the training films featured in the course were from US Military training courses, and they were excellent. (except maybe for the fact that Americans can't pronounce the word "solder" properly )

The main point expressed by these films was that, for maximum reliability, there must never be sharp points on solder joints, and all bends in wiring should be smooth and rounded.  The explanation for the smooth curves in wiring was that a sharp bend will stress both the wire and insulation and make it subject to breakage because of vibration or insulation failure.  There were many other points, such as using insulating tubing on exposed component wires - heatshrink wasn't yet around -, putting wires through the hole in a tube socket terminal and then wrapping the wire around the terminal as well before soldering, and the same thing with tagstrips.

I know that there are some modern flat data cables that have been designed to be hard bent, but most cables and even hookup wire have a minimum recommended bend radius, if you dig into the cable manufacturers specifications.

There are Military Specifications (Mil Spec) for about everything as diverse boot polish and grenade launchers.

Now for the question:

Can somebody please tell me, out of all the thousands of Mil Specs, where I can find the Spec that dictates the use of hard right angle bends in wiring.

Peter.

[drewl]

HA!
they had a whole library of MIL-SPEC books at one aerospace mfg. place I worked for.....I wouldn't even know where to look!
Heck, I've been certified many times and I can't remember.

[soulsonic]

Yeah, I don't think sharp right-angle bends are Kosher. They give really specific numbers for certain radii regarding certain wire diameters; the acceptable radius of the bend is a percentage of the diameter. Someone put up a link to that book once; it's called MIL-STD-2000.

Maybe I should take some pics of the inside of my 100% Mil-Spec U.S. Navy Signal Generator? It's certainly a good example of proper strict Mil-Spec construction.

[soulsonic]

Found the link:
http://assist.daps.dla.mil/quicksearch/basic_profile.cfm?ident_number=67966
The one listed as "Base Document" is what I read.

[ClinchFX]

Thanks Martin, it looks as if I have some reading ahead.

Peter.